Wellington Trip || Camping Fun!

As I mentioned previously, cyclone Lusi was forecast for the lower North Island during the time we were camping down there in March. Saturday night after the wedding was quite blustery but the tent held up all right.

On Sunday, the weather seemed normal and we went to church and continued life as usual. Dad went to the office to see what the options were if the weather got bad during the night and we couldn't stay in the tent. We were given the key for a lodge. 

 In the evening while Jarrod was cooking dinner (butter chicken!), the rain got heavier and the wind got stronger; the ends of the tent were blowing in with the wind gusts. We all went to the kitchen for dinner, planning to start the bedtime routine once we were done. At one point Jarrod went back to the tent to get something, and when he came back he told me there were about 10-12 leaks, maybe more. She thought, "Yeah, right. He's exaggerating." 

When she went back a bit later there were leaks nearly EVERYWHERE and all the bedding was starting to get wet. Then started the made scramble to pack everything up as fast as possible! A few of us older ones helped while Dad stayed with the little ones to keep them settled. (A French tourist couple made them popcorn, so they were happy!) Dad ended up loading most of the others in the van and taking them up to the lodge, then transporting everything out of the tent and taking it up as well. We were still disassembling the camping bunks and stretcher beds (while holding the torches . . . ) after we heard a pole snap and one end of the tent completely caved in. Finally though, only the fridge (borrowed from Nana) was still in the tent. It's amazing how light it (apparently) seemed that night when Mum and Dad carried it through pouring rain across a couple or so tent sites and into the kitchen. We all headed up to the lodge then to get beds made up and little people into bed. Dad and Jarrod went back to pull the tent down a bit later since we didn't want it completely destroyed during the night! 

Initially we were given one night free in the lodge, but our hosts were amazing and ended up allowing us to stay in it until the Thursday -- the full duration of our planned stay. 

The two windows on the lift look into the kitchen; the doors to their right and the large windows facing the dining room lead to the large dining/lounge type room. And on the other side of the block wall? A pretty fancy barbecue! ;)

Windows on the right are the kitchen, then the main entranceway is to the left. The three sets of windows all lead to bedrooms (there are seven bedrooms in total, three shown, three opposite, and one down the far end on the left.

Kitchen! Now that is more my size! haha :)
The stack of muesli boxes? Apparently the price was a deal you'd never see in Auckland so we stocked up. ;) And I guess someone was bored, hence the pyramid. lol

Okay, so I don't normally post photos of bathrooms! We had two like this though, three loos and two showers in each. And lovely BIG mirrors that the bathrooms we used while camping didn't have! 

Big hallway! Kitchen on the left, entranceway farther down on the left, bathroom on the right, and bedrooms through the doorway in the centre.

Lots of tables and seating!

Entranceway and coat hooks. (When we got back from the tent on Sunday night there were bags all over the floor here -- but all the children's jackets were hanging up! {smile}

Hallway and bedrooms

Not very many good photos of the rooms I'm afraid. This is (obviously) the boys one. Four rooms had two sets of bunks each, two had one bunk set and a single bed, and the end room was much larger and had four sets of bunks.

To Wellington || The Drive

In March of this year my uncle got married in Wellington, so we made the trip down for the first time in a few years! We were a little unsure about how the drive down would go, since we hadn't done it for some time and we had several children for whom this would be the first time. It went surprisingly well though, with only four or so stops(?) and fairly content children. 

Over the years we've often stopped for lunch in Taupo, but this time we opted to continue travelling while I made lunch and handed it around to everyone. Too bad we didn't get any photos; they would have come out interesting! The day before I had made rolls in the breadmaker and (organised the others to) put all the fillings - cut, washed, etc. - into ziplock bags, so I just had to assemble everything.

: : Coffee stop! : :

: : Laura needed to get out of her carseat for a bit, and when she got out she was really excited. : :
She sat here for ages laughing, clapping, playing with Dad and then jumping.

: : Scenery out my window : :

: : Mangaweka : :
Anyone remember this off eDrive? lol 

: : Love this signpost in Bulls!! : :

So glad to arrive at Paekakariki Holiday Park fairly early so we didn't have to set the tent up in the dark! And hooray for pre-made bacon and egg pies that just have to be heated. ;)

"I'm the queen of the table . . ."

Stratford - Day 5 - Tuesday December 27th

Written 29th December




Breakfast...mmm!! lol

Tuesday, December 27th saw the end of our family get-together. Everyone was up early, and busy cleaning, packing up, and cooking the last of the leftover food for breakfast. Yum, I love a cooked breakfast! We had to clean the entire campground, so that kept us all busy.

We had planned to stay at the campground until Friday, but another large group was scheduled to arrive at 2pm, and Uncle Mike had booked us in at Stratford Top Town Holiday Park until Friday. So we, along with everyone else, packed  our belongings and prepared to transfer. This time we hadn't packed so well, and the result was that we couldn't fit everything into the van. Oops! But Uncle Mike came to the rescue, and transported everything we couldn't fit, in his work van, to the new campsite.

 No one was in any hurry to leave, thereby putting an end to our great weekend. We all just hung around, talking and whatever, until about midday, when we were required to vacate the campground. Slowly we said our goodbyes, and one by one everyone left. Last of all, we piled into the Burton's van, and drove to Stratford, or specifically, the campground in Stratford. Torn between two accommodation options, Mum finally chose the larger backpacker room with 12 beds, and attached lounge, dining, and kitchen, (which we had stayed in the previous year), over the 4-person self-contained unit that we could have squeezed a few more beds into, thereby losing most of the lounge space.

One that difficult decision was made, we unpacked the vast majority of our belongings, and scavenged the bags/boxes of food for something for lunch.


Later that afternoon, Dad decided to drop in to Uncle Mike and Aunty Sonia's to see what they were up to that night, whether or not they wanted  to catch up that night. I tagged along with my laptop in the hope of an internet connection, and Jarrod and Monique for no particular reason.
Aunty Sonia kindly looked for the information I needed to connect to their wireless, but it wasn't to be. instead she found me a cable. Yay, finally I was online! I replied to a few emails and checked a blog (jesmithfamily.blogspot.com) before Dad announced, all to soon, that it was time to leave.

After a dinner of fish and chips, Uncle Mike and Nana came for a coffee, and we talked for a while. My siblings were watching Little House on the Prairie on my laptop, when it cut out after someone knocked a connection. Unable to get it to turn back on, I told them they'd have to do something else.

Once Uncle Mike and Nana had left, I was ready to do some blogging, so grabbed my laptop, plugged everything in, pressed the power button... and... nothing happened! We tried a few things with it but I ended up putting it away.

After everyone went to bed, I watched Soul Surfer on our new portable DVD player, and went to bed rather late!